Basic Accountng Will Help You Manage Your Money Better

It Helps to Know Some Basic Accounting

Accountant? You don’t have to be an accountant to understand some of the basics of accounting when it comes to managing your finances at home or if you run a small business. The key to accounting is that for every financial transaction, something gets "added to" an account and something gets "taken away" from an account. Also, at any given time, your assets or worth is defined in terms of what is left after subtracting out your liabilities and expenses. In non-accounting terms, this means that the money you have is defined in terms of what is left over after you pay your expenses. And if you have any upcoming expenses, they need to be reserved out of the money you currently have.

You first start by listing all of your sources of income and your assets. Your assets could include money in your checking and savings accounts. Assets can also include money that others owe you or have promised to pay. If you run a small business then this could be items you have sold but have not received payment for. These are assets. Assets will also include those that are "liquid" and those not very "liquid." By "liquid" we mean that an asset can be turned into cash somewhat easily. Money in your checking account can be very quickly turned into cash by just going to the ATM machine and making a withdrawal. However, your car is not very liquid because you would have to sell it and this usually is not a real quick process.  

So if you know what your "liquid" assets are and what your current expenses are then you have most of the information you need to run a balanced budget. Make sure if you write checks to pay expenses that you record the amount of the check and subtract it from the balance in your check register right away. That’s all there is to it. Pay your expenses but don’t let them exceed your liquid assets.

Disclaimer: The information in this article does not constitute professional advice. This article is for informational purposes only .

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Basic Accountng Will Help You Manage Your Money Better

It Helps to Know Some Basic Accounting

Accountant? You don’t have to be an accountant to understand some of the basics of accounting when it comes to managing your finances at home or if you run a small business. The key to accounting is that for every financial transaction, something gets "added to" an account and something gets "taken away" from an account. Also, at any given time, your assets or worth is defined in terms of what is left after subtracting out your liabilities and expenses. In non-accounting terms, this means that the money you have is defined in terms of what is left over after you pay your expenses. And if you have any upcoming expenses, they need to be reserved out of the money you currently have.

You first start by listing all of your sources of income and your assets. Your assets could include money in your checking and savings accounts. Assets can also include money that others owe you or have promised to pay. If you run a small business then this could be items you have sold but have not received payment for. These are assets. Assets will also include those that are "liquid" and those not very "liquid." By "liquid" we mean that an asset can be turned into cash somewhat easily. Money in your checking account can be very quickly turned into cash by just going to the ATM machine and making a withdrawal. However, your car is not very liquid because you would have to sell it and this usually is not a real quick process.  

So if you know what your "liquid" assets are and what your current expenses are then you have most of the information you need to run a balanced budget. Make sure if you write checks to pay expenses that you record the amount of the check and subtract it from the balance in your check register right away. That’s all there is to it. Pay your expenses but don’t let them exceed your liquid assets.

Disclaimer: The information in this article does not constitute professional advice. This article is for informational purposes only .

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Interview Preparation

                                       

Plan Your Answers to Interview Questions

During a job interview, how you speak or say things is important. However, what you actually say is even more important. This is because anything you say during a job interview helps serve to verify your knowledge in a specific domain. Your answers to interview questions will show your prospective employer if you are prepared and qualified for the job you are applying for.

You can indeed prepare yourself for a job interview because generally there are some fixed questions that are asked that you can anticipate and formulate an answer beforehand. However, avoid setting up rigid answers. Have in mind a certain strategy, a plan for your responses so that you can adjust them on the spot. During the interview, do not worry if you pause to collect and organize your thoughts before continuing to answer. These pauses show that you have not learned your answers by heart. In short, your prospective employer won't think that you're giving them canned or scripted answers.

Short pauses are very natural in speaking regardless of the situation. Except for this first aspect, there are many advantages for taking such short moments of "respiro." There can be some tricky questions and you must take your time in order to grasp them and to formulate some intelligent and adequate answers. Moreover, such pauses are necessary for the interviewers also. If you are a regular chatterbox; then they won’t even have the time to follow you and to understand your ideas.

It is definitely more appropriate to be silent than to stammer. So whenever such a situation occurs, just take a deep breath. Take time to collect yourself and organize your thoughts before you start talking again.

 

 

 

 

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Decide on Your Spending Priorities in Your Budget

 

Your Spending Priorities & Your Budget

Setting up a family budget is a matter of deciding what your income is and what money will be going out due to variable and fixed expenses. In addition to this, it is also important to prioritize your spending so that you have the money to take care of things that rank in importance to other things you can spend your money on. Prioritizing helps you keep on track and stay focused on your financial goals. Also, when hard times hit, you know what you must spend money on and what can wait.

You need to make sure that you have money for things that are critical to survival. These can include items such as food, transportation to and from work, savings, education, and medical care to name a few. Of course, food is a priority but take a close look at your family’s eating habits and cut back on fast food carry-outs and eating in restaurants. These can blow your food budget real fast. Many large grocery stores have specials on certain food items and you would be wise to search out these bargains.

Of course, transportation is necessary to get to and from work and other things like school activities but you should carefully scrutinize your transportation situation. If you are having tough times then carefully ask yourself if you need two cars for both spouses. An automobile is a terrible financial resource consumer. Ask yourself if you have reliable mass transportation available in your city to get you to and from work and keep only one car.

Medical care can be another money drain even with insurance. Sometimes, if you carefully weigh the health of your family, you can save money on health insurance premiums by taking options with higher deductibles. You will need to have the deductible ready to go should you need it but if you carefully analyze your situation you could perhaps reduce your premiums.

 

 

Keeping More Money In Your Pocket

Saving Money by Saving on Interest

Most all of us in our lifetime will have to borrow money to make some major purchase. Along with borrowing the money comes an interest charge that the bank or financial institution will charge for the money you borrowed over time. Depending on the interest rates and the period of the loan, the amount you borrowed could end up costing you a lot more than you would have liked to pay. On any major purchase, it is best to pay as much down in cash that you can and finance as little as possible. And, in order to save interest, pay the loan back as soon as you can.

The less you have to finance the better. In fact, in some cases you will pay a higher interest rate if you do not put much down. It all points back to risk. Financial institutions see that the large down payment is a good indicator that you will pay the rest of the loan plus it helps their cash flow as well.

The total interest that you pay is a function of time. The longer you have an outstanding loan, the more interest you will pay and ultimately the more the loan will cost you. By working to pay off the loan early, you save money.

Sometimes folks will make double payments on their outstanding loan to pay it off in half the time. Always remember that certain loans have a payoff value and an outstanding loan balance. These are two different values. The payoff value is what it takes to pay off the loan today whereas the outstanding loan balance is what merely the balance of the remaining payments over time with interest computed in. Also, keep in mind that with auto loans, most of your initial payments are paying the interest only. Paying this type of loan early definitely has an advantage because all of the interest is figured into the first two to three years of payments.

Get A Big Bank Accunt -Not A Big Belly

There was a time in the history of men, that being fat was considered healthy. Before, people associated the body’s size to being rich and powerful. If you were fat, it only meant that you had the money to buy all the foods you want and you are not starving. Though, this principle is still being practiced by some groups in Africa, other groups in the world have already changed their views of regarding that concept of being fat.


The changed of views of many people was due to the fact that many illnesses have been associated with being fat and studies show that they are preventable if the person is living on a healthy lifestyle. Even though many are aware of these studies, yet there are still a lot who enjoys eating and drinking foods that are not good to the health. And those foods that cannot be processed by the body are the one causing the trouble.


Now being fat is not just being big anymore. There are terms that properly correspond to how big a person is. One term is overweight. An overweight person is either normal or obese. His or her body mass index (BMI) is 27.3% or greater for women and 27.8% or greater for men. On the other hand, an obese person has so much excessive fats on the body and this BMI is already 30% or greater. If you are wondering whether you are already an obese or overweight, you may get your BMI by dividing your body mass (in terms of KG) to the squared of your height (in terms of meters).


Though BMI is just one of the many tools in determining if a person is obese or nor not, many still rely on this since it is easier to measure. But many people are already aware of the detrimental effects of being fat. Still many people don’t seem to give the matter enough thought. This was shown on the recent report from the World Health Organization that there are more than 1 billion people who are overweight wherein more than 300,000 of them are already obese. This is really alarming since about 1/6 of the population of the Earth are very prone to diseases which can be prevented by being healthy.


Studies also show that obesity in today’s time was cause by the highly urbanized setting of most places. Many don’t have enough time to cook and prepare the right foods due to work and other social activities of man. Thus, more and more are relying on easy-prepare foods and fast-food foods which are unhealthy.  In addition, the work nowadays is more on paper works or desk work. Thus, the physical activities of men are being reduced as well. These factors, globalization, modernization, and urbanization are the key factors that cause the widespread epidemic of obesity.


Those studies should be a wake-up call for most of us that even though we are striving to have a highly urbanized civilization, we should never forget our health. Our health should always be a priority and should not be neglected since even though we have transformed the world into a modernized one, if we can’t see it due to health reasons, it is useless.

Job Search Organization

The Value of Being Organized During a Job Search


You will be inundated with all sorts of paperwork, correspondence, documents and important files the moment you begin your search for a job. Job hunting involves contacting and communicating with a number of companies and key persons so you will have a lot of letters for every job position you are applying for. It also means you have a lot of appointments to keep track of.

If you're aggressive in your job search, you have a lot of data that you have to have on file. If you are applying for different positions, you would have different versions of your resume as well as cover letters that specifically target the different positions. And if you did your assignment, you would have brochures and other pieces information of each company you are interested to work for. You would also have appointment letters, referrals and other important documents needed for each job application. Now imagine having all these papers stacked up in just one file. Now imagine bringing the wrong resume to your job interview. Finally, imagine actually mistaking another company's history with another during a job interview. Your disorganization has just caused you the job.

Before this actually happens to you, take action and organize! The solution is as simple as filing each piece of paper in their own folders or file. The moment you receive a correspondence or document relating to the position you are applying for, file it in the appropriate folder. As soon as you receive a job interview appointment from a company -- whether by post or by phone -- immediately file the letter or write the date in the corresponding folder. On the day of your job interview, you know precisely which folder to bring with you. By having your files organized, you spare yourself the stress of having to sort through piles of papers. It will also help you avoid unpleasant situations such as going to your job interview with the wrong referral letters, confusing one company with another and even worse, mistaking one job interview date for another.

Organizing documents and files related to your job hunt is a good starting point if you want to have a successful career. Good organizational skill is valued by companies because it contributes to a person's productivity in the work place.

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How To Succeed On Your Next Job Interview

 

Job Interview Self-Evaluation

Follow each of your job interviews immediately by a self-evaluation. After you get out of the interviewing room, you should have a pretty good idea of what the result would be -- whether you will get the job or not.

Analyze, Recall Questions

In case it doesn't look like you made the cut at the job interview, then analyze what went wrong from your side. Recall the questions you were asked and the answers you gave while they are still fresh in your memory. Recall your responses to each question, how you stated them, and what you think your interviewers liked and disliked. Sit and list the positive and negative things you did during your job interview. Strive to be objective when analyzing yourself because this self-evaluation will help you a great deal in future job interviews.

Learn From Positive And Negative Things

Don't be discouraged if you realize that you did more negative things than positive ones. Knowing and recognizing the negative things that you did during your job interview is an excellent starting point: you can improve on those so you can do much better in your next job interview.

List Good And Bad Aspects

Go through your list thoroughly, making sure you have listed all possible good and bad aspects. Your next step is to improve on negative aspects. You can discuss these items with your friends and ask them to give you some pieces of advice. You can visit your local library and find books that contain information on how to have successful job interviews. You should constantly compare and contrast the others’ experience or what you read with what you’ve just lived. Such a method will prove to be an efficient one.

An honest, objective self-assessment will give you results and it will certainly enhance your chances of succeeding on your next interview.

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How To Control Your Shopping

The Art of Controlled Shopping

Shopping can be considered an art, because it requires a special skill that involves being able to control when it comes to saving money and buying only the necessary items needed. Before you go shopping, you should be fully prepared and organized in order to have control over what you buy and don’t buy. Planning your shopping list plays an important role in giving that control.

Always Use And Keep A Shoppin  List
 
The main way to keep control is to use and keep to a shopping list. Prepare your shopping list ahead of time and according to a meal plan so you know exactly what you need. Don’t buy items that are not on your list. Also organize your shopping list according to food categories and the store’s layout. When you have your shopping list organized this way, you won’t waste time going back to aisles for items you forgot to get the first time around.

Never Shop On  An Empty Stomach

Another way to keep your shopping expeditions under control is to never shop on an empty stomach. When you are hungry, your mind looks at every food item as a needed item. This in turn will make you want to purchase items that are not on your list. Depending on when you shop, you can either plan a meal at home prior to shopping or plan to eat out on the day you shop.

Control The Time You Shop

The time you shop should be planned perfectly. This will also give you control over the time you spend in the store. If you have the opportunity to shop on a weekday when most people are at work, do so. However, if you are like many people and don’t have this luxury shopping on a weekday, do your shopping in the evening because it will allow you to shop with a few less people than on the weekend. Weekends should be kept for family time and fun activities, not for standing in long lines for hours at a store.

The art of shopping with control will allow you to keep within a budget, spend and save money at the same time and maximize the time you have to spend with your family and friends.

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Job Interview -How To Your Make Job Interview Successful

Job Research

Every job interview should be preceded by research work regarding not only the job that you are applying for but also the company. It is of high importance to be familiar with as many things as possible about the job and about the responsibilities that it entails so that you can know what to say in order for them to hire you.

Study The Company

The entire interview evolves around these questions: "What makes you the ideal candidate for this position?" and "What can you offer us?" Unless you know a lot about that specific position, you are not able to turn the interview into a success. Almost everything that you say about you should fit their requirements. And in order to know what they are asking from you, you should be informed. To be informed, you need to do your assignment and study the company before you step into the interview room.    

Don't Exaggerate

Certainly, in everything that you say there must not be any exaggeration, but you have to keep your common sense; otherwise they will realize that you are informed enough to know what points to touch. And this will be both an advantage because they will appreciate your interest and a disadvantage because you’re not being honest.

Inform Yourself About The Position

So, you should consider the job interview like any other test that you have given during your lifetime: you get informed beforehand, you have to be prepared, and the moment you are there, you have to give the right answers in order to be successful.

It is also very important to get yourself informed not only on the position but also on the company for which you will have to work in case of a positive answer after the interview.

How To Get Out Of Credit Card Debt

                                                                                                        

Money Freedom

So many people carry so much debt that they are overwhelmed and unsure of how they will ever become free from its chains. Many families would rather be saving for their children’s college fund than paying interest on credit cards, but don’t know what they can do to make a change.  

Be Committed To Pying Off Debts

Credit is not a necessary evil. The first step to getting out of debt and saving money is to realize this. To get out of debt is not easy, but it can be done with commitment to make the change happen.

Keep Track OF Your Spending Habits

Knowledge of your spending habits is the second step to getting out of debt and saving money. If you don’t already, begin to keep track of where you spend your money. Doing this for one month to three months will give you a very good picture of how your money is spent. It will also enable you to be knowledgeable about how much money you make and by how much you can reduce your expenses.

Analyz Your Spending

Step three is analyzing your spending. There are many ways to cut costs and you really need to take a close look at where your money is going. If you are eating out for lunch everyday, not only are you spending money on the meal but you are also spending money on fuel cost each time you drive to the location to eat. Look at every item on your expense list as if you've just lost your job and determine how much money it would take to keep you afloat by paying for the absolute necessary items only.

Creat A Monthly Budget

Step four of getting out of debt and staying out is creating a monthly budget. The main key to a budget is to learn to live within your means. It is important for you to know and understand that if you do not have the money, then you do not have the money. If you are thinking about using a credit card, stop and say to yourself, "A credit card doesn't mean I have money."

Continue To Analyze Spending Patterns & Adjust Them

The final step of getting out of debt is to continue to analyze your spending patterns and adjust them accordingly. At first it may be tough, but remember the ultimate goal -- Money Freedom.

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How To Achieve Faster Shopping When Shopping With Kids

                                                                                      

Include Children In The Shopping Experience

At times shopping with children in tow can be difficult. Many stores place sugar-filled items and dime store toys at children’s eye level so your kids will be begging for these worthless items. Finding clever ways to keep you children distracted from these types of items can help to minimize the begging and help to achieve a faster shopping outing.

One fix-all method is to leave the children at home when you go shopping. Even though this can be an easy fix, it does not teach the children how to behave in a store. Children can learn a lot about being responsible shoppers by being allowed to go. At first it will be difficult to get certain ideas about shopping across to your children, but with some consistency and patience, your shopping expeditions with them will be transformed.

Add An Affordable Toy or Candy For Child (Children) To The List

To begin, always bring a shopping list of the items you need. Let the children know that items that are not on the list will not be purchased. Make sure you stick to the list as well. If your children are allowed to purchase a toy or a candy, write it on the list under their names with the corresponding budget. This will help them to pick out something that will be prized more than the cheapie toys in the aisles.

Allow Kids To Participate By Getting Things On The List

Let your children participate in the shopping experience. By letting your children help, their eyes won’t have time to wander onto useless items. When you get to an aisle, tell them what item or items they are responsible for getting. Let the children get the items from the shelf and put them in the shopping cart. If there are multiple sizes of the product, let them know what size they should get. (This will also help them to learn about measurements). Younger children can participate in this experience as well by getting the items off the really low shelves.

By allowing your children to participate in the shopping experience they will learn the valuable skills necessary for shopping wisely and you will have excellent helpers in the process.

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How To Keep More Money In Your Pockets

Save First Spend Later

 

Every single individual tries to save money in one way or another. If you take a wrong first step then you will be left with no savings at all. The proper way to start is to analyze how much of your income

can be directed towards savings. After doing that, compare the remaining amount with a budget you need to have. If you try to first budget your expenses and think that only after that you can put the remaining money in savings, chances are you will have no savings.

We tend to spend as much money as we have. A proper analysis done by yourself upon your own possibilities can reduce the risk of wasting money to zero. Start off with four to six months of trial period. Keep a budget and take notice of everything you spend and gain. This is how you will see how much money you are spending. Cut the spending to a null figure and calculate after the trial period passes how much you can afford to put in savings. Extract some more from this amount just in case something shows up and you would have calculated the amount of money you can set aside each month.

Savings are done with numerous reasons in mind. You can decide to save money to buy something or just in case of a misfortune that might need extra money. Whatever the reason is, you need to understand that saving comes first and only after that come budget expenses. If you do not know how to do it or do not trust your objective ability to assess the situation then you might need to consult with a financial advisor. First try it yourself and only after that try the other solution. Hiring financial advisors cost money too!


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How To Have More Time For Recreation

Organize Your Activities

Everybody these days complain that he or she does not have time for anything, nor have any spare time. However, most people forget or don’t take into consideration the amount of time they lose with all sort of non-important activities. If people could better organize their lives and the activities they do, then they would have more time.

Organize Your Work Area

For instance, have you ever misplaced a file in a cluttered desk? You probably did. Can you remember the amount of time you spent on trying to find it? It probably took up a lot of your time before you located the file. If you were not able the file then the effort; besides having been in vain, also took a lot of your time and energy. And this without taking into consideration, that you could have never found the file you were looking for, ever again. This can be very frustrating.

Organize Your Desk

Now, imagine that if you have had a better-organized desk, a better-organized work area, this would have never happened. Imagine all that time spent on finding that file could have been used in all sort of other ways. You could have done all kinds of activities, ranging from other work tasks to some free time you could have enjoyed.

Organize Your Life

These little things, things like better organizing the work area and better organizing one’s life, escape people and lead them to losing a great deal of time. If you want to enjoy more time, time that you could spend doing other useful activities, and if you want to escape the trouble of looking for a file in a cluttered desk with the risk of never finding it, you would better start organizing your work space. You probably won’t regret it.

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Financial Understanding Through The Budget

Why Everyone Needs A Budget

Budgeting Helps Track Your Spending

Do you have a budget? If not then you need to get one and if yes, is it properly arranged? Loss of money happens to everyone and you will notice this also. In most cases you can not understand where the money went. This is where a budget can give you an important helping hand.

Budgeting Helps Track Cashflow

Every single company has a budget and you need one too. A budget is the first tool that you need to create in order to determine how your money flows. If you have a budget, you will get to see the money you receive and spend as well as keep track of all your transaction.

Budgeting Helps With Financial Stability

If you want financial stability then having a budget is vital. Start off with getting a simple notebook and create two columns: income and expenditures. Every time you spend money try to note it down under “expenditures”. After around three months you will start understanding how much money you spend for everything. You will see your profit or your loss and you can take steps to improve your financial situation. For instance, if you are paying too much for the electrical bill, see if the electrical plugs in your house are installed correctly and that there are no loose wiring. Check your equipment and appliance also. Energy loss can create bigger bills. If your profit is large, you will know how much you can afford to invest and save every single month.                                                                     

Budgeting Helps You Plan Your Finances

Everything about your finances can be planned with the help of a budget. Never neglect its importance and try to keep your budget as up to date as possible. You will be amazed at how much money you spend without even knowing it. These losses can be eliminated and turned into profit if you realize they exist. The budget is the first step towards financial knowledge. Creating one will make you gain money by eliminating loss and investing the largest amount possible.  

Embracing Help

                                               Don’t Turn Away Help   

Most of us are proud people. We usually have an attitude within ourselves that we have made it to this point of life on our own and will continue to pull our weight to make it. However, we can be assured that at some point in our life, we will hit the bottom. It is not a matter of if but it is a matter of when.

Unless you are independently wealthy, you are going to need someone to help you and you will have to swallow your pride to let that happen. Maybe you have experienced a job loss and it has been a few months and you still have not landed a new job. You send resume after resume with no response. Have you tried calling someone you know who might be able to help you get a job? It has been proven time and time again that you have the best chances of
getting a job when someone already there can attest to your skills and qualifications. So why go through the hassle of looking anywhere else?

For those of us young and just starting our adult lives, getting credit can be very difficult. However, all of us will need credit to buy cars, homes, and other large ticket items. But when we are first starting to apply for credit we will receive many rejection letters. The quickest way to get credit is to have an already-established credit-worthy person co-sign a loan with you. This is where getting help will save you time and hassle. However, if you get someone
to co-sign with you, please make sure you pay the debt as you could destroy that person’s credit if you do not.

Other types of help could come in the form of advice from wise people who have already been through an experience you might be struggling with. You would be surprised that there are others going through what you are and it could save you much grief by just seeking their advice.The bottom line is...learn to accept help when you need to. Don’t shy away from help when it is offered to you. It will be easier to solve your problem when you have someone to help you through.

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How To Be Happy And Feel Less Stressed

Take Time To Enjoy The Simple Things
 

The more our society advances, the more stressful it is. The rat race gets more intense each day. We are miserable people because we fall victim to the rat race. But there is relief by just taking the time to enjoy simple things. And little does everyone know that simple things can help relieve a lot of the stresses we are feeling. However, for most of us, we are so used to living in the rat race mode that we don’t even know where to begin in looking at the simple things.

Enjoy The Sunset

When was the last time you took the time to enjoy a sunset? Just sit in your easy chair on the porch or back yard and watch the sun go down. If you live close to the seashore or in a desert region, sunsets can be very a breathtakingly beautiful sight indeed.

Take A Walk Or Ride Your Bike

Or when was the last time you just went for a walk or rode your bicycle? Want a quick solution to the stress of city traffic? Ride your bike or take a bus to work. Buses are especially nice in that you can sit with your favorite book or even snooze while you are going to work. Plus, you will save money on gasoline which can be so expensive these days. Some cities have nice rail systems that let you commute comfortable to and from work. You will be amazed at how much better you would feel by staying out of traffic.

Play With Your Child

If you have small children, when was the last time you just  came home and said, "Hey, let’s go to the playground!" You will be surprised at how much better you will feel just sitting and watching your children play. We must remember to cherish these moments when the children are small because the time passes by so fast.  It is not hard to find simple things to enjoy and make you feel better. The problem for most of us is that we don't stop.  Doing  this will not only energize you but add more years to your life. "So take time to smell the roses!"

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How To Eliminate Envy

                                                                    Eliminate Envy And Stay Happy
                                                                                                                                 

Even if you don’t believe the Christian Bible, you might want to read some of its stories sometime. You will find a wealth of valuable lessons for staying happy. One thing you will quickly find out is that many of the incidents of strife in the Bible had their roots in what is called envy. Envy is wanting what someone else has and feeling hostile towards that person for having it. If envy is cultivated too long within a person, it can actually manifest itself towards violent acts.

The stories in the Bible concerning envy range from Cain killing his brother Abel because God would not accept his sacrifice, to the brothers of Joseph throwing him into a pit and allowing him to be sold into slavery because they did not like his coat of many colors. These stories start with a seed of envy and end up in violent acts.

If you detect even a bit of envy within yourself, you need to eliminate it because it will only make you into a bitter person. It could be dangerous as well because you may be tempted to take action to try and satisfy your envy against the person you are envious of. You are better off feeling happy for a person who has something you wish you had. And you can rest assured that you will always find someone who has something better than you; so you might as well learn to deal with it.

The best thing to do when you feel you are envious of another is to stop and look at the good things you have. For instance, your friend might have the car you want and all you have is a beat up minivan. However, it could be that your friend is not blessed with children whereas you wouldn’t trade the experiences of hauling yours around in your old minivan for anything.

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How To Aviod Pain By Learning From Others

Avoid Being Hurt By Learning From Others

Problems in life are inevitable. As we go through life we are going to run into many difficulties and uncertainties and even tragedies. There is no school for learning how to deal with these life changing events. You can read a book on how to deal with life changing events but books are general and usually do not specifically address your
particular problem.

Learn From Others Who Have Walked The Path

It is not just problems that we have to deal with. Sometimes we enter into a positive situation like a marriage and don’t know what to expect. Other times we are dealing with a task
in our careers that we were never taught in college. All these are examples of where we can benefit greatly by learning from others who have already been down those paths.

Learn From Those Who Have Experienced The Same

Notice that we qualify this with those who have experienced the same challenges. How can a person who has never "been there" give effective help? We can learn from those who have
experienced what we are about to experience for ourselves. If we pay attention to them, we have a better chance of choosing the right path and avoiding a lot of pain due the
mistakes we avoid.

Avoid making The Same Mistakes Like Others

For instance, let’s say there is an elderly person who at one time got overextended on credit but ended up paying all of it off after years of struggling. This would be the perfect person
to talk to when you get your first credit card. This person can tell you how credit card companies fish you in with promises of 0% interest on balance transfers and extremely generous credit lines. They can tell you before you fall into the trap about the miserable nightmare it can end up being. Now how would a person who has never experienced that be able to help you?

Save Yourself From PAin

Learn from the experiences of others. By doing so, you can avoid their mistakes and the pain they felt as a consequence of their actions.

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Closet Space -Organizing Your Closet

                                           How ToOrganizing Your Closet

Over-crowded closets can cause a number of problems. You may have difficulty finding clothes that you need quickly, and things you have hanging up may become wrinkled due to the close quarters. You can solve these problems quite easily, and you will find that the work you put into organizing and sorting your closets will save you more work over time. Simply rotate the items in your closet with the seasons.

Arrange Clothing By Seasons

You will have some clothes that are appropriate for all seasons, such as some formal wear and simple casual wear that will not be affected by the changes in seasonal weather. You should start by separating these into their own section, which will, for the most part, remain in your closet all year. Take the rest of your clothes out of the closet and sort them according to the seasons for which they are appropriate.

 Store clothing for different seasons in clear bags and plastic boxes

Place items that are not appropriate for the current season into storage until they are needed. Clear plastic boxes or bags are the best way to go for this storage, as you will be able to tell what they hold easily. Store items for each season together, and be careful to store your clothing in a place where the conditions will not adversely affect the fabrics. Some fabrics, for instance, do not handle drastic temperature or humidity changes well.

 Arrange Clothes By Functions

There are a number of ways you can arrange the clothes that remain in your closet, but the best method is probably to arrange them by their function For instance, put casual wear in one section of your closet, the formal wear in another, and so on. This will allow you to find whatever you need inside your closet quickly and easily. Remember to keep extra containers for the things that are still in your closet, when you need to rotate those out, as well as to replace any containers that wear out.

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Managing Your Expectations

Giving Without Expecting Anything in Return
Some of the unhappiest people in the world are people who expect something from others, particularly if these others owe them favors. While we are all taught that if we do things for people it will usually return to us, this is not always the case. You will find that you will typically be a much happier person if -- when you do something for someone or give something to a person -- you expect nothing in return.

It has been said that people who keep their expectations low have little cause to whine. For instance, if a close friend of yours is in a bind and asks to borrow some money, give it as a gift instead of lending it. Realistically, if a person is in a real financial bind, that person probably cannot pay you back anyway. If you lend money to this person and do not get it back, you might find yourself getting very angry and upset. By the same token, if you do not have the money to spare, then tell your friend this too. It is better to be honest in this case. Just tell your friend you do not have money to lend him and try to help your friend come to a solution.

It is easy to do favors for other people whom we are pretty certain will return the same for us. In other words, it is easy to give some nice gift to a rich friend of ours as we are pretty certain that this rich friend will give us a nice gift in return. It is much harder and much nobler to do a favor for someone you know cannot return the same. This is what divides the happy people from the miserable people. Those individuals who genuinely help those in real need
expecting nothing returned are among the happiest on earth whereas the ones who expect something back are quickly disappointed.

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Embracing Help

                                               Don’t Turn Away Help   

Most of us are proud people. We usually have an attitude within ourselves that we have made it to this point of life on our own and will continue to pull our weight to make it. However, we can be assured that at some point in our life, we will hit the bottom. It is not a matter of if but it is a matter of when.

Unless you are independently wealthy, you are going to need someone to help you and you will have to swallow your pride to let that happen. Maybe you have experienced a job loss and it has been a few months and you still have not landed a new job. You send resume after resume with no response. Have you tried calling someone you know who might be able to help you get a job? It has been proven time and time again that you have the best chances of
getting a job when someone already there can attest to your skills and qualifications. So why go through the hassle of looking anywhere else?

For those of us young and just starting our adult lives, getting credit can be very difficult. However, all of us will need credit to buy cars, homes, and other large ticket items. But when we are first starting to apply for credit we will receive many rejection letters. The quickest way to get credit is to have an already-established credit-worthy person co-sign a loan with you. This is where getting help will save you time and hassle. However, if you get someone
to co-sign with you, please make sure you pay the debt as you could destroy that person’s credit if you do not.

Other types of help could come in the form of advice from wise people who have already been through an experience you might be struggling with. You would be surprised that there are others going through what you are and it could save you much grief by just seeking their advice.The bottom line is...learn to accept help when you need to. Don’t shy away from help when it is offered to you. It will be easier to solve your problem when you have someone to help you through.

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Managing Your Expectations

Giving Without Expecting Anything in Return
Some of the unhappiest people in the world are people who expect something from others, particularly if these others owe them favors. While we are all taught that if we do things for people it will usually return to us, this is not always the case. You will find that you will typically be a much happier person if -- when you do something for someone or give something to a person -- you expect nothing in return.

It has been said that people who keep their expectations low have little cause to whine. For instance, if a close friend of yours is in a bind and asks to borrow some money, give it as a gift instead of lending it. Realistically, if a person is in a real financial bind, that person probably cannot pay you back anyway. If you lend money to this person and do not get it back, you might find yourself getting very angry and upset. By the same token, if you do not have the money to spare, then tell your friend this too. It is better to be honest in this case. Just tell your friend you do not have money to lend him and try to help your friend come to a solution.

It is easy to do favors for other people whom we are pretty certain will return the same for us. In other words, it is easy to give some nice gift to a rich friend of ours as we are pretty certain that this rich friend will give us a nice gift in return. It is much harder and much nobler to do a favor for someone you know cannot return the same. This is what divides the happy people from the miserable people. Those individuals who genuinely help those in real need
expecting nothing returned are among the happiest on earth whereas the ones who expect something back are quickly disappointed.

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Does Your Budget Needs a Buffer?

While none of us like to face it, the truth of the matter is that sometime in our lifetime we will hit a dark cloud and things will go the wrong way financially. This could be any number of things, including the loss of a job, a major medical disaster with no health insurance, or a sudden temporary disability. Each family and individual needs to have an emergency fund that can be turned quickly into cash for these emergencies. There are varying recommendations out there but it seems that most recommend three to six months of cash reserve so that a family can weather the storm.

That could mean having anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 in cash possibly just sitting in an account ready for access should an emergency arise. Most of us typically do not have this kind of money lying around but it is a goal to try and achieve. The best advice is to start saving for your emergency fund now. Even if you only have $3,000 lying around in an account, do not touch it and use it unless it is for an emergency. Also, keep in mind that when the emergency hits, you may be cutting your expenses anyway so the emergency fund might last longer than under normal circumstances.

If you still find that you do not have enough cash lying around to get through then check things like the life insurance policy you may have purchased a long time ago. It may have cash or loan value and this is a good source to get a quick low interest loan. However, beware that it is difficult to pay the loan back usually and it reduces the benefit value of the policy. Another source of quick cash is if you have any stocks that have a reasonable share value. Keep in mind though that you will pay capital gains taxes on stocks based upon their value at the time of the sale less the price you purchased them for.

Save on Heat to Save on Money

Among all home appliances, those that produce heat consume the most power. This is why your electrical bill shoots up to the high heavens during the peak of winter. However, there are ways to make maximum use of the heat your appliances give off so that your energy consumption does not need to increase unnecessarily, whether it’s winter or not.

Residual heat—heat given off by an appliance even after you've pulled the plug—is a powerful yet often ignored tool. If you make use of residual heat, you'll be amazed at how much energy, and consequently money, you're able to save.

So how do you make use of residual heat? When you're ironing your clothes, pull the plug just a few minutes before you need to stop using it. The heat coming from the iron is enough to remove the wrinkles from an extra couple of shirts. It’s best if you iron your clothes by the bulk instead of pressing just one outfit every time you go out. Pressing clothes by the bulk lets you unplug the iron every few minutes so you can use up residual heat. In effect, you’ll be pressing a significant portion of your clothes without having to use up electricity for it. The same principle goes with using the stove. Just a few minutes before you finish cooking, especially if the setting is on high heat, turn off the stove and allow the residual heat to finish the job.

Since appliances that generate heat cost the most, don’t leave them turned on when they aren’t in use. Leaving them on for a few extra unnecessary minutes may be insignificant if it’s done for one time only, but if you make it a habit out of it, they add up and reflect on your bills.

Writing Bad Checks

Many times most people do not think too seriously of writing a bad check. Some do not even care about the $20-$30 service fees assessed when one of their checks gets returned for non-sufficient funds or NSF as it is commonly known. In some cases, if the bank can prove that a person is intentionally writing bad checks,it can go after the writer for fraud. Repeated writing of NSF checks can also be reported on a person’s credit rating so it is wise to take measures to help reduce and prevent the risk of being negatively affected by a NSF check.

The best way to keep yourself protected from writing a bad check is to make sure that you always keep your checkbook balanced and up to date. That means as soon as you withdraw money from an ATM, do an internet transaction, or write a paper check, make sure that it is recorded in your checkbook register. Some have suggested that you even round the cents up to the nearest whole dollar as you record the transaction in your register to avoid running into a NSF situation over a few pennies. This might cause some problems when balancing your checkbook but it puts you at a very low risk of writing a bad check.

Also, it is a good idea to get a checking account with overdraft protection. This does not mean that the bank will not charge you a service charge when the NSF check reaches the bank. The advantage is that the bank will honor the check and then turn around and assess a $20-$30 service fee on you. If you continue to write the NSF checks even with overdraft protection the bank could frown on this and close your account. Not only that, it could get very expensive for you and it is a sad waste of money.

How To Get Out of Credit Card Debt

Pay Attention to Your Credit Cards

Credit Cards
are a quick fix. They can also be a solution to a problem when utilized wisely; as well as head aches and nightmares for users who are not diligent in their spending.

The number of credit card users is constantly rising each day. The benefits of having a credit card are numerous and are causing people to use them for a variety of tasks from paying mortgages to saving money. However, problems appear when you combine interests and debts with credit card costs. The processes can become time and money consuming without you even acknowledging that.

Many people use one Credit Card to pay off another while others stick to the low monthly payments. Neither of these options is wise as the road to a debt free life will never happen and by the time the debt is completely paid the user will have paid more than the borrowed amount. There are times when a Credit Card is necessary like in the purchase of a home, car, or to fund an Educational goal. Others use credit because they lack the patience or the discipline to save up for that flat screen or name brand item.

Being in debt can be frustrating and yet; people who are already in debt keep piling up the cards having around ten credit cards with no means of paying off those high interest balances. The only way out is to pay off accumulated debt and pay attention to your spending habits.

M.P.Dunleavey, in an article written in the New York Times, “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Spending” writes, “But before you create the mother of all budgets, I recommend putting a lot of time and thought into examining the way you live, how you have mentally calculated what’s “affordable” or what you “deserve” to spend — and what it would require, financially and emotionally, to live a life based on the money you actually have.”

I’ve had my share of credit card problems so I know first hand how stressful being in debt can become. It’s easy to hand over the card and walk away with a feeling of instant gratification; but this feeling does not last as it can become very stressful and bothersome.

First of all you need to pay off your highest interest debt. Only, after that you can work towards paying off any other credit card. This does not only apply in the case of one credit card. You might have more than one. The credit card that has the highest interest is the one that can cause most problems. This is why the credit card with the highest interest rate must be your main priority. Take it into consideration every time you think about new credit. If you can not cope with it and still decide to get the second credit then problems will immediately appear.

The only way to avoid it is by doing a proper analysis on your financial state. Calculate every sum of money you need to pay each month. After that, compare it with your revenue and your money needs for the same period. If you spend more than you gain then the problems are serious and if the two amounts are similar, you again have problems. You need to know where you stand with your credit card at all times.

The ideal use of a credit card is for emergency use only. The payment is done at the end of each month and this is a perfect situation. Never think of your credit card as your spare money. They
are used to help and not complicate your financial state.